Twenty-Eight

At eighteen, He Yi was rejected by her childhood sweetheart. She swore that love was a high-risk asset, frozen indefinitely. At twenty-one, she dated a suitable college boyfriend. He cheated on her. She ended things calmly, then cried at her desk. At twenty-four, she found a dependable older man who made her feel secure. Unable to connect with him emotionally, she chose to walk away. At twenty-five, she became infatuated with a handsome designer. But he returned to the office with his new girlfriend and stood right in front of her. Every time, she thought she had seen through love. And every time, someone stood silently behind her: Her boss, Mr. Cheng. He never confessed his feelings or crossed the line. He scolded her, taught her, promoted her, and finally let her fly. It took He Yi twelve years to understand: What he gave her wasn't love. It was something more precious than love: “I honed you with my own hands, then sent you somewhere higher than I could ever reach.”